joachim0ds wrote:Hi there,

Not really a mountaineering question, but i am quite sure you guys can help me out. I'll be in California next week for a conference. I fly in @ San Diego, conference 15-19 Mar. And i booked a flight back from San Francisco @ 22 Mar.

Now I have 3 options to go from San Diego to San Francisco.

1) Take a plane from SD to SF and do some urban visiting
2) Rent a car and drive San Diego to LA, continue highway1, visit maybe monterey, continue and visit SF
3) Rent a car and drive from SD to SF via Sequoia Park and/or Yosemite park.

Needless to say, why else would i be on Summitpost? , I'd prefer option 3. But since i am a euro boy, i am quite confused as to what i should expect in those parks. The websites say there is still bad weather in the parks. In Belgium, everything with 3 trees is a park, so the weather is the same everywhere. I am quite aware that US national parks are a bit bigger and that conditions can vary.

Is it possible to just take a car, drive to the parks on main roads, look around and leave? Or will the main roads be filled with huge amounts of snow and tires are really necessary?

Btw, any other suggestion between LA and SF that takes 1 or 2 days is welcome

Yosemite, for a quick visit, as opposed to Sequioa/Kings, Imo.

Yosemite Valley is at 4000 feet, give or take. Here is a valley web cam (dark, as I post)

http://www.yosemite.org/DSN/wwwyosemiteassociationorg/Content/Webcam/ahwahnee.jpg

There are paved trails, places to eat, and the greatest slabs of granite in all the Californias! Not to be missed. Kings Canyon, and Sequioa too, harder to be a tourist this time of year - less to do, less accessible.

The drive up the coast is fantastic too. Only you can choose between mountains and sea. There is some fantastic mountain scenery on the coast... and flowers will likely be going off as well.

Each choice is WORLD CLASS.

As a climber I wouldn't hesitate to visit Yosemite though.

DMT

Sequoia would be accessible from the south entrance, on 198 from Visalia into Three Rivers.

The drive up from the foothills to Giant Forest (~6400') and Lodgepole (~6700') is quite scenic, but there are often chain controls at the higher elevations after storms and there will be a lot of snow around. Here's a webcam from Giant Forest -

http://www.nature.nps.gov/air/WebCams/p ... ekicam.cfm

Check out the winter edition of the park newspaper -

http://www.nps.gov/seki/parknews/newspaper.htm

It is still winter in the high country and to get anywhere away from the car you will need snowshoes or skis.

In one and a half or two days, you have plenty of time to visit the Valley, and Big Sur Coast both, as well. I'd fly to SFO and rent a car, motor south on U.S. 101, cut over to Highway 1 and either go as far as you wish, perhaps to about Paso Robles/San Luis Obispo, head northeast on CA 41, or cut back north on 99 or I-5, with a side trip then to the Valley. If you were game and didn't waste time, you might do this in a day, maybe some 500-600 miles r.t. With two days, you can lodge in Fresno/Merced and then see the Valley, even with a bus ride from Merced ($25 by YARTS) which saves you the park entry fee.

This is an ambitious itinerary, you can not sleep in, or risk falling asleep at the wheel. If you are not familiar with the roads, you can get lost or waste time.

You might turn around to head back north once you get to Big Sur, instead of going all the way south to be able to cut over to the Central Valley, and head east to Yosemite via Monterey and Merced. I'd say you have seen most of the spectacular coast, say, once to McWay Falls, or thereabouts. If you do this right, you may have some time for hiking. I'd count on the short trail to Vernal Falls Bridge view point, only an hour or two r.t. hike, not to be missed. You see Illouette Falls on the way.

Lodging in the Central Valley is pretty reasonable, or you can spend for five star lodging (a waste, by me). Even sleep in your car.

Just that traffic may not cooperate. About SF, you can be stuck in jams for hours at a time. Midweek, you should be O.K. once away from SF, but you can have accidents blocking the roads for hours, too. There is a small potential for landslides/mudslides along both Hwy. 1 and CA 140 into the Valley. And on busy weekends with good weather, you will run into crowds at these scenic locales.

Have fun, good luck, and enjoy your visit, hope it'll be a memorable one!

Yosemite is spectacular, and would be my first suggestion if you had several days off. If you only have two days and that time involves a full day of driving (as San Diego <-> SF does), then you have to consider the quality of the scenery on the drive, and I would suggest the coast is way more scenic. Getting from LA to SF via Yosemite involves a lot of driving through the central valley, which is farmland and not especially scenic (this is one of the prettier photos I found).



On the other hand pretty much the entire drive up from LA to SF via the coast is epic.



On the way you will pass (and can hike up) mountains like Cone Peak, which is only three miles from the highway and rises over 5000'.



Another option you could consider is to drive up from LA along the east side of the Sierra via 395, and then head down to San Francisco via hwy 50 or hwy 80 from Lake Tahoe. The east side of Sierra is very scenic, as is Lake Tahoe, and there's good winter climbing in and around the Owens valley.

As much as I love the Sierras, a two day trip really does seem hardly worth it. San Francisco has so much going on, I would vote to stay there and see the city. The Academy of Sciences is really great, the SFMOMA is an unbelievable art museum that I could spend two days in by itself, you have the bridges and fort and china town and a million different things to see. I do love the mountains, but I am also a huge fan of big cities (I've never lived in one, just visited). And if there happens to be a late season big swell in the water you could drive an hour south and see mountains of water coming at any of the numerous big wave surf spots down the coast. My vote is for the city, easier, less time invested in driving (San Francisco has a great public trans system), and SF is such a unique city.

That said, you could still see a lot of the Yose Valley in the time frame that you have, and with the snowfall predicted for this spring, I bet you'll get to see a really snowy sierra.

San Francisco is a beautiful city, I did a hike there a few days ago, some photos at PTP>Latest Peaks Adventures> SF Winter Hike March 8, 2010. But to miss Yosemite and Big Sur, while you can always visit SF when you are an old man, esp. with waterfalls in both places, I don't know your priorities. All are magnificent places, and you might just hike about San Diego as well. Or to see L.A., if that's your drift.

Never been to Europe, so I wouldn't know where you are coming from. Here we have about $3/gallon gas, millions of cars, eight lane freeways, and everything designed for motorists. SD to SF is a long drive, getting through L.A. quickly during rush hour is near impossible. As said, northbound along I-5/99 is mostly flat and boring.

One other thing you might consider is to motor north on U.S. 395. You get to see the Eastern Sierra, with a possible side trip to Death Valley National Park. Although the Sierra passes are closed, so then Yosemite Valley is way out of the way. You can see Lake Tahoe/Reno, though, and take I-80 to SF.

joachim0ds wrote:Hi there,
i am quite confused as to what i should expect in those parks.

In Yosemite, expect increadible scenery. Like with most landscapes, pictures do not do justice. In Sequoia, the scenery is not quite as good, but the sequoia groves are interesting. The largest, by volume, tree in world is there.

joachim0ds wrote:The websites say there is still bad weather in the parks.

This could be. However, the forcast for next week is dry. If this holds up, you shouldn't have any problem accessing the parks. Keep an eye on the forcast as next weekend draws near. http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?zoneid=CAZ096

joachim0ds wrote:In Belgium, everything with 3 trees is a park, so the weather is the same everywhere. I am quite aware that US national parks are a bit bigger and that conditions can vary.

Sequoia and Kings Canyon is huge, but most of it is inaccessible by car, and many roads close for the winter. However, the main road through the park is plowed after snowstorms. After snowstorms, chains are required.

Yosemite, is also huge. However, the Yosemite Valley, the most popular part of the park, is only a small part of the park. Most of Yosemite outside of the Valley is inaccessible by car. However, the major tourist sites of the valley are open year round.

joachim0ds wrote:Is it possible to just take a car, drive to the parks on main roads, look around and leave?

Yes.

joachim0ds wrote: Or will the main roads be filled with huge amounts of snow and tires are really necessary?

Again, if the weather is clear for a few days before your visit, it shouldn't be a problem.

joachim0ds wrote:Btw, any other suggestion between LA and SF that takes 1 or 2 days is welcome

Check out Yosemite, you won't be disappointed.

Just go to Yosemite. Anybody who claims that two more days in SF is better spent than going to Yosemite Valley is plain wrong. SF is a city, and while it's a nice city, much of would you'd do there you could just as easily do in any other large, cosmopolitan city. There's only one Yosemite.

BTW, Sequoia is wonderful too. Walking thru the Giant Forest is really a remarkable experience--like an outdoor cathedral--but you'll be able to enjoy much less of the park this time of year.

Walking thru the Giant Forest is really a remarkable experience--

Most of the trails in Giant Forest and also Grant Grove will be snow-covered. You might tramp to the General Sherman Tree (largest living thing on Earth), it's a short way over snow, but to hike through the rest, only on skis/snowshoes. Unless the pack is consolidated well enough.

I'd skip SKC, it's likely to be gloomy and dismal in poor weather. The roads there are hard to drive, with constant turns with hairpins, some 20 mph limits to negotiate. If you'd choose to visit SF, you have the Muir Grove, north of town and accessible by bus. Don't know how much you'd wish to spend, but simply hiking both SD and SF, you wouldn't have to rent a vehicle. You have mass transit, the SD Trolley, and then BART or Muni or what in SF. A good green way to get around.

Yosemite is mainly for motorists. Many may spend only 2-3 hours there, you'll see the classic sights doing the Valley loop. You'll wish to see Bridalveil Falls, to get up close is a 10 minute hike, and they've improved the trail view of Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls, maybe now a half hour hike. They'll all be running good, and right now you don't have the crowds.

You get the most foreign tourists in Yosemite, I'd say they knew what they were doing. But far more will visit SF, even most SC don't like the outdoors and wilds.

If you decide to drive up the coast, take a look at http://bigsurkate.wordpress.com/ for updates on road conditions. Wildflowers are out everywhere, so, while you may encounter some delays, you may not care. If you decide to visit Yosemite, keep in mind that most of the mountain passes between the Sierra & SF are closed by snow, so you have to take a longer route around (eg., via Tahoe). This can make for a very long day of driving. But Yosemite is unique & magnificent, & even a one-day trip will be unforgettable.

As a non-Californian who has to plan his limited time there carefully, I offer this:

The drive up the coast is beautiful, but it is long and slow. If you are primarily auto touring, it all begins to look the same after a bit. If you're getting out to hike and climb, that's different.

If I lived overseas and had to choose between the coast and Yosemite, I'd choose Yosemite. Everyone should see Yosemite Valley at least once.

Sequoia and Kings Canyon are pretty boring for auto touring. I actually like their backcountry better than I do Yosemite's, but that's the backcountry. The drives through SEKI really aren't that interesting.

I once drove down the coast from SF to Morro Bay in one day and then shot out east to Fresno to visit SEKI the next day. In your shoes, I'd consider driving north to Morro Bay or so, getting a nice taste of the coast, and then heading out to Yosemite Valley. If you're up for really long days, that would give you a little of both in your very limited time.

Bob Sihler wrote: I'd consider driving north to Morro Bay or so, getting a nice taste of the coast, and then heading out to Yosemite Valley. If you're up for really long days, that would give you a little of both in your very limited time.

That would actually be a great idea. You could cut over at Paso Robles on Hwy 46, and then take Hwy 41 all the way to Yosemite. You could enjoy the central coast wine country, see some beautiful California Coast (go a bit north to see Cambria, San Simeon, then go back south few miles to catch Hwy 46). Once you leave Yosemite, you can take the Hwy out to Merced, then up to I-80, which would take you over to SF.

Once you leave Yosemite, you can take the Hwy out to Merced, then up to I-80, which would take you over to SF.

It'll be a lot quicker to take 120 (Big Oak Flat Road) through Manteca and then to I-580 to SFO by the San Mateo bridge. You then avoid having to go through SF itself. Unless you wish to stop by Sac Town, we are the State Capitol, for one. If you hang around you might even get to meet Arnold, our Guv, I think a lot of Europeans are into him (??). Though the traffic on 80 is usually pretty bad.

Personally, I'm biased toward the Yosemite option. In the interest of time, you may wish to consider flying from San Diego to Oakland via a low-cost carrier like Southwest and drive to Yosemite via 580 & 120, to maximize your time in the park. As long as you don't attempt the drive during evening commute hours or mid-morning on a Saturday, your drive will be a quick and fairly painless one (although not very scenic). If you are interested in seeing both the coast and Yosemite, you may wish to consider flying from San Diego to San Jose and driving to Big Sur. Then driving from Big Sur to Yosemite via Monterey, as I think that will be both a great sampling of the coast while leaving you enough time in the park.